Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on September 1, 2026, against the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A19 Pro and came out 1 year before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra
  • Delivers 332% higher peak brightness (4311 against 998 nits)
  • Comes with 2962 mAh larger battery capacity: 8050 vs 5088 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 185 Hz
  • 61% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (4165K versus 2590K)
  • Shows 32% longer battery life (44:02 vs 33:14 hours)
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • Supports higher wattage charging (100W versus 40W)
  • The phone is 1 year newer
  • Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
  • 11% higher pixel density (460 vs 416 PPI)
  • 9% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3940 and 3629 points

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
73.3
(Good)
Value Index
39.5
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.9 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1200 x 2608 pixels 1320 x 2868 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 416 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 185 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2200 nits 3000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 10000 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Touch sampling rate 480 Hz -
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 7i Ceramic Shield 2
Screen-to-body ratio 91.6% 91.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.9%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
4311 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 163.49 mm (6.44 inches) 163.4 mm (6.43 inches)
Width 77.94 mm (3.07 inches) 78 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 7.94 mm (0.31 inches) 8.75 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 235 g (8.29 oz) 233 g (8.22 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material - Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Red Silver, Blue, Orange
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Repairability - Good (3.04/5)
Drop resistance - Very good (B) · 180 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Apple A19 Pro
Max clock 4600 MHz 4260 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
- 4 cores at 2.6 GHz:
- 2 cores at 4.26 GHz:
L3 cache 12 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 6 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1620 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~2488.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
46450
Compute Score (GPU) 27636 46450
Single-core score 3629 3940
Multi-core score 11080 10434
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
4165108
CPU 962447 788283
GPU 1453812 922741
Memory 974305 226010
UX 774544 653533
Total score 4165108 2590567
Samples Less than 3 [14 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 76%
Graphics test - 18 FPS
Graphics score - 2487
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 42 FPS
Section 1 - 47 FPS
Section 2 - 42 FPS
Section 3 - 36 FPS
Graphics score - 10999
Sources: 3DMark [5]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra
No benchmark results yet
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-21 (Md.Imran Shafiq)AnTuTu 112602137
📘 2026-07-31 (xon1005)Geekbench 6 CPU4028 / 10579
📘 2026-06-15 (Domi)AnTuTu 112427596
📘 2026-06-09 (Cristiano)AnTuTu 112258714
📘 2026-05-29 (Joker)AnTuTu 112433128

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
ROM HyperOS 3 -
OS size 36 GB 20 GB
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates - 7 years

Battery

Capacity 8050 mAh 5088 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 40 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) Yes (25 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (61% in 30 min) Yes (65% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:54 hr 1:12 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 23:02 hr 12:36 hr
Watching video 25:48 hr 22:25 hr
Gaming 10:54 hr 08:17 hr
Standby 171 hr 154 hr
General battery life
44:02 hr

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution - 8064 x 6048
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 4x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 1920 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 102° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 48 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.78
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL HP5 Sony IMX903
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size 0.5 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/3.0 f/2.8
Focal length 120 mm 100 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KJN5 Sony IMX973
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.2
Focal length 17 mm 13 mm
Sensor OmniVision OV50M40 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/2.88" (≈ 0.35 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.61 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 18 megapixels
Image resolution - 4896 x 3672
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 21 mm 20 mm
Sensor OmniVision OV32D Sony IMX914
Sensor size 1/3.44" (≈ 0.29 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Optical
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Depends on the region Yes
Infrared port Yes No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 -
Type of SIM card Nano eSIM
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.1 Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2026 September 2025
Release date September 2026 September 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $729 $1199
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Yes, 100 W Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 17 Pro Max:
    - Battery is 5,088 mAh on the eSIM-only model (vs 4,832 mAh on the Nano SIM + eSIM version).
    - The Chinese model alone includes dual Nano SIM slots and 15 W wireless charging.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the camera and software are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max. But if the battery life and design are more of a priority – go for the Xiaomi Poco F9 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
93 (87.7%)
13 (12.3%)
Total votes: 106

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